This intricate Cruikshank drawing shows Napoleon and his headless entourage (the imperial “family”) marching from the guillotine towards the gates of Hell. A skeleton stands as a barker beside the guillotine, encouraging victims to pay a tax and be dispatched immediately to their “one remaining ally.” One man kneels under the blade and two men and a woman wait their turn. Behind the entrance to Hell stands a terrifying Lucifer, who bars their entrance because he fears competition from Napoleon who has been “such a Devil among men.” Marie Louise, Napoleon’s second wife, walks with her head on a plate, accompanied by a general who drags his head by its pigtail. In the air, a double-headed eagle carries away Napoleon’s son, the King of Rome. Mme de Montesquiou recognizes it as the Austrian eagle, a reference to the rumor that the child’s grandfather, Francis I of Austria, would serve as regent until the child was grown. In fact, the King of Rome played no part in the final transfer of power from Napoleon.

Scanned from original drawing in RGB at 200-400 dpi, saved in TIFF format, changed to indexed color, enhanced and resized using Adobe Photoshop, and imported as JPEG2000 using Contentdm software's JPEG2000 Extension. 2006.